Poker
by XcoreKoolAide
Summary: In a makeshift safehouse secreted from infected, one may find it difficult to find a form of entertainment. Except for Nick. And Ellis is too naive to decline. Or does he know better? NickEllis, One-shot.


Nick gestured with his hand full of cards to his counterpart's lower stomach. His sapphire eyes gleamed, hinting on slyness.

"Overalls."

He wasn't calling him by his nickname, being the redneck bigmouth that Ellis was, overalls wore halfway on his toned being. He was commanding lightly for the denim that hung around his waist to come off.

'Awh, Nick." Ellis tittered an uneven sigh, lips falling slack on his complaint. Nick caught himself staring at the younger man. His slick with saliva peach lips. The closed up red scratch over the bridge of his nose. His yet to be removed cap with a tow-truck on the front. His warm chocolate eyebrows pinching together over a grassy pair of naïve eyes. The tribal tattoo decorating his muscular bicep. The way his summer-tanned chest flushed under the shivers of the night, exposing his collar bone nicely. His too large hand grasping at nothing in the air in front of him defensively.

"Fair and square, Overalls. Just like you said." Nick reminded him, grin complimenting his cunning appearance. Ellis was silent, looking Nick in the eye for a incredulous second. Then a sigh escaped those naturally pouted lips, hands shoving under the table they found.

"What the hell was ai thinking'. Playin' strip poker with some conman like yerself," He muttered incoherently to himself. "I ain't never played strip poker…'cept for this one time with Keith and his girlfriend, but even then Iwon all hands…" He trailed off. When Nick was sure that Ellis' "me-an'-my-buddy-Keith-stories" was finished, Ellis looked up at him as the sound of pants hitting the floor touched their ears. His expression was vulnerable, seeking acceptance.

Nick's grin ceased to let up, shoving the sleeves of his rich baby blue button up his forearm and past his elbows. Why _had_ Ellis accepted his challenge to a strip poker match when Nick already admitted to the group that he was a successful gambler? The southern boy was bound to lose, no doubt about it. Ellis had only beaten him on the first hand, and Nick shrugged out of his dirty blazer. He let him win that round, just to give him a quick taste of victory before he beat him into the ground. It was him being nice, honestly. And wanting to see delicious haughtiness wash over his body. Ellis had dropped the feeling once he had to take off his personalized garage tee, and was currently left with citrus-colored boxers on and cowboy boots to cover him from Nick's roaming eyes.

He chuckled out, fingers instinctively gathering the playing cards into one stack and shuffled them with years of skill. Ellis watched his hands and the deck nervously, peachy lips parted as if he wanted to say something. He never did work his mouth over the words, and Nick prided himself with leaving the babbler speechless for the first time. He yawned, separating more than half of the deck and setting the larger on the table between them.

He dealt Ellis and himself the right amount as his counterpart mouthed out, "Hey, uh, Nick?… I know this is poker an' all, so we gotta be bettin' on sumthin', right?" He paused briefly as if he needed the other man's consent. Nick nodded, attention still on passing out the cards.

He went on, "So, uh," a titter, "what exactly did you have in mind in bettin' terms fer tonight?"

Nick's grin silently broadened when he had finished what was on his mind. He shuffled the remaining cards in his hand once he had dealt him and Ellis the right amount of cards to play. Shoving sections into another, and making a bridge and collapsing them with a fluttering sound. Ellis' question hung in the air, and it was making the question-asker tense and vulnerable still, eager to learn the answer. Nick shuffled again, paying careful attention to the way the cards folded in on each other when he brought a separated section together to meld into one.

Ellis was on the brink of fuming out spurts of emotions, Nick could feel it, when he answered his question in a smooth voice. "How about another round and we'll figure that all out."

* * *

**Author's Note:** :D There you go, lovelies. My first posted NickEllis for you. I have much more written out, so please comment and review this one and I will put more up on FF! Thank you for reading, much appreciated. And if anyone wants to know, or has caught on, I based this fic off of a picture. I do not know who the author is, but I has the link .com/image/nick%20ellis/JulieTF2/Left%204%?o=79

So now you have something to base it off of ;D

Thanks again, readers.


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